ISRAEL: African migrants in Israel protesting against a government detention law announce plans to extend their strike and protests across Tel Aviv

Record ID: 348648

  • Title: ISRAEL: African migrants in Israel protesting against a government detention law announce plans to extend their strike and protests across Tel Aviv
  • Date: 7th January 2014
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (JANUARY 7, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AFRICAN MIGRANTS PROTESTING (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER SAYING: "Our demand is clear and loud, that we ask asylum in Israel, that we today we are asking asylum, protection, to be recognised as refugees in this democratic country of Israel." PROTESTERS CLAPPING PROTESTERS WATCHING SPEAKER SUMAYA NEDEY
  • Embargoed: 22nd January 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAU9LWWVROO7W1B9HDSPDF7UE5
  • Story Text: African migrants in Tel Aviv pledged to extend their strike on Tuesday (January 7), in protest at the Israeli government's implementation of a new open-ended detention law.
    Three weeks ago, Israel's parliament approved the law permitting authorities to detain migrants without valid visas indefinitely. The measure has been condemned by critics as a violation of human rights.
    Protest organisers previously announced that their strike, along with a series of demonstrations that have clogged Tel Aviv streets, would last three days.
    But in a now-extended protest, the migrants are demanding the Israeli government examine their requests to be recognised as asylum-seekers.
    "Our demand is clear and loud, that we ask asylum in Israel, that we today we are asking asylum, protection, to be recognised as refugees in this democratic country of Israel," one speaker told the crowd of thousands.
    Israel considers most African migrants in the country, particularly the majority who are from Eritrea and Sudan, as economic migrants, and labels them 'infiltrators.' Protest leader Sumaya Nedey, a migrant from Sudan's Darfur region, said the strike would continue into a fourth day, despite pressure to bring it to an end.
    "We sit here today as representatives of our community. They ask us to come and speak to you. We started the strike on Sunday and we will continue," she said.
    Some 60,000 migrants, largely from Eritrea and Sudan, have crossed into Israel across a once-porous border with Egypt since 2006, Israeli authorities say. Many say they want asylum and safe haven. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he views the presence of many of the Africans as a threat to Israel's Jewish social fabric.
    On Sunday (January 5), more than 10,000 Africans demonstrated outside Tel Aviv city hall on behalf of what human rights groups said were more than 300 migrants arrested since the detention law came into effect.
    Dozens more have been summoned for detention, including women and children, rights activists and the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) said.
    "We are calling to the government to cancel this law arresting people and recognise us, as we are refugees, and give us our...like another country, they have the right of the refugees, health care and education and everything what they signed in U.N. refugee convention," said Idris, a migrant from Sudan.
    Protesters say their compatriots have been jailed by Israel in a desert facility.
    Detainees can leave but must report back three times a day, including at nightfall, and may be held without a time limit pending voluntary repatriation, implementation of deportation orders or resolution of their asylum requests.
    In a statement on Sunday, the UNHCR representative in Israel criticised Israel's official description of migrants as "infiltrators", saying most were refugees who deserved international protection.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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